Systems such as computers usually include processors to process data. In some systems, the performance of the processor is usually judged by the ability of the processor to process data on high speed network traffic from multiple sources. Although the speed of the processor is an important factor, the performance of the processor and the system also depends on factors such as how fast real time incoming data is transferred to the processor and how fast the system prepares outgoing data to be transmitted to the external source.
In some systems, real time data may be received and held in a memory device externally from the processor; the processor is subsequently notified to process the data only after some sufficient amount of data is received. Before the processor processes the data, the system may perform activities such as writing the data into the memory device, reading the data from the memory device, initiating interrupts, and controlling the flow of data. These activities introduce an unavoidable latency, which is a time measured from the time data is received by the system to the time the processor processes the data.
The latency associated with the handling of real time data in some conventional systems may limit the performance of the processors.